EXECUTIVE WATCH Taylor Wylie


COO of Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing (AEM) By Rick Weatherford


“Every day has hopefully my biggest failure in store...I look at failure differently from many people,” says Taylor Wylie, COO of Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing (AEM), a communication avionics manufacturer that develops over 90% of its business for and from helicopters. He is the first executive I recall profiling who actually likes failure. Yes, he sees failure, he says, “differently.” In fact, we will see Wylie relishes in unconventional thinking, and he says that different thinking has been a key to his successful career. But what about his hopes for big failures? Notice those three little ellipses in his quote (...); they are employed so frequently, especially in political ads and movie promotions, they often go unnoticed. The words hidden in those three little dots hold the key: “with the opportunity to learn big things from that failure.” So, he embraces failure as a beneficial teacher.


Indeed, listening to Wylie talk about his failures — and successes, about his almost punishing self-drive, about the challenge of containing manufacturing costs, about his affinity for epic fantasy books, and even about an “acknowledgement” he received as a young student (an acknowledgement also won by his siblings), makes for an interesting hour’s conversation from beautiful British Columbia. So why don’t you make yourself comfortable and join us for a condensed visit.


2023 Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Large Business of the Year Award 12 Nov/Dec 2024


First, that school acknowledgement that Wylie “won,” like his brother and sister, was for “Most Outspoken,” which is an award that should be a prerequisite for a Rotor Pro profile. He is quick to answer and speaks at a fast clip, but Wylie’s also thoughtful — for a motor- mouth. I write that with little fear because during our interview the chief operating officer of over 100 employees based in Kelowna, Canada, displayed no entitled executive pretense. In fact, he even jokes that his mother took a 4 a.m. job in the cold Canadian dawn at Canada Post to get some quiet and peace away from him and his siblings.


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